Animal Feed Science and Technology 108 (2003) 181–190 Ensiling forage garland (Chrysanthemum coronarium L.) at two stages of maturity and at different wilting levels M.E. Valente a , G. Borreani b , S. Caredda c,d , L. Cavallarin a,∗ , L. Sulas c a Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Leonardo da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco, Torino, Italy b Dipartimento di Agronomia, Selvicoltura e Gestione del Territorio, University of Torino, via Leonardo da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco, Torino, Italy c Istituto per il Sistema Produzione Animale in Ambiente Mediterraneo, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Enrico De Nicola, 07100 Sassari, Italy d Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria, University of Sassari, via Enrico De Nicola, 07100 Sassari, Italy Received 10 October 2001; received in revised form 24 March 2003; accepted 24 March 2003 Abstract Garland (Chrysanthemum coronarium L.) is an annual spontaneous species of Mediterranean pastures usually grazed by animals and a weed in grain cereals. The tendency of garland to be conserved as silage has been studied in crops harvested at early bud (EB) and late flower (LF) stages. For each stage, the forage was ensiled in 2 l glass silos immediately after cutting or wilted in the field to different dry matter (DM) levels. Silos were stored in the dark at 25 ◦ C for 120 days. The DM content (g kg -1 fresh matter (FM)) at ensiling ranged from 109 (direct-cut) to 332 for the EB forage and from 197 (direct-cut) to 425 for the LF forage. In the EB stage a 77 h field wilting time was required to reach the DM content of 332 g kg -1 , while in the LF stage a similar DM content was reached after 27 h. The concentration of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) in the forage before ensiling ranged from 29 to 69 and from 31 to 51 g kg -1 in the EB and LF stages, respectively. The high sugar substrate allowed lactic acid fermentation and a good conservation quality in both stages, without detectable butyric acid, even in direct cut silages. As the DM level increased, lactic acid production declined from 93 to 18 g kg -1 DM in EB silages and from 61 to 15 g kg -1 DM in LF Abbreviations: ADF, acid detergent fibre; BC, buffering capacity; CP, crude protein; DM, dry matter; EB, early bud; FM, fresh matter; LF, late flower; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; NH 3 –N, ammonia nitrogen; OMD, organic matter digestibility; SN, soluble nitrogen; SPSS, statistical package for social science; TN, total nitrogen; WSC, water soluble carbohydrates ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-011-6709234; fax: +39-011-6709297. E-mail address: laura.cavallarin@ispa.cnr.it (L. Cavallarin). 0377-8401/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0377-8401(03)00123-8